


Deleted scenes 2: Toshiko and Ianto

by logos00



Series: Torchwood Series 5: The Reboot [5]
Category: Torchwood
Genre: Alternate Timelines, Children of Earth Fix-It, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-16
Updated: 2015-12-16
Packaged: 2018-05-07 02:24:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,167
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5439953
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/logos00/pseuds/logos00
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In the alternate present day where everyone is still alive, Tosh and Ianto work together on an important mission. She tries to get him talking about the awkward situation with Jack. And they’re BAMFs.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Deleted scenes 2: Toshiko and Ianto

**Author's Note:**

> [This Tumblr post](http://merindab.tumblr.com/post/120279791244/toshiko-sato-and-ianto-jones-bamfs) made me realize I needed to add more of these two to this series. Because there should be more of these two, always. 
> 
> Recap: Jack and Gwen accidentally created an alternate timeline where no one died. Tosh and Owen are now married, and Jack and Ianto broke up a long time ago because Jack wouldn’t commit. Ianto claims to have no further interest, but this new Jack is confusing and intriguing to him. Meanwhile, a series of mysterious explosions around Cardiff have our team on their toes. The most recent explosion revealed a handful of small alien stones with strange markings on them. 
> 
> This sequence takes place after Jack and Owen’s conversation in the autopsy room and before Ianto examines the stones on the conference table. A few days pass in between.

“Here you are, Jack.” Toshiko walks into the office and hands him the bag with the stones. “All of the data is logged into the system now.”

“Thank you.” He takes it from her and sets it down. “Now to figure out what they mean.”

“We’ve got a problem, Jack.” Ianto comes marching up. “The web crawling software has turned up a posting. Someone asking around for information about some mysterious small rocks they recently obtained. It sounds an awful lot like some of those.” He points at the bag on Jack’s desk.

“Did it say where they got them?” Jack’s voice is all business, but he can’t seem to find a comfortable place to put his hands.

“No, just that it’s in Cardiff, but it did say when. Fits the time of the first explosion.”

Tosh looks back and forth at them indignantly. “We searched that site thoroughly! There was nothing there!”

“Someone could have beaten us to it and taken the stones away,” Jack says. “We need to get our hands on them immediately. Ianto, did you get an ID on the person who made the post?”

“No, I tried to trace the IP address but they seem to be using a fairly sophisticated proxy system. I’ll keep trying.”

“Let me have a look,” Tosh says as she follows him out.

 

“There!” she says, tapping at the last few keys. “Rupert Coleman, age 25, and there’s the address.”

Ianto looks over her shoulder. “Think we should we go pick him up now?”

“Not yet. With a little time I can get more information. He may not have the stones in the same location as his computer.”

“Too bad we don’t have an established account on this web site. I could ask him some questions, do a bit of social engineering. But if he sees I’m a new user he’ll get suspicious.”

“Not a problem,” Tosh says, tapping away again. “There you go, sending you credentials now on an account with an impressive posting history. You’ll look like a positive old-timer.”

“Brilliant.”

 

A few hours later he leans back from the monitor. “Alright, Tosh, I think I’ve pushed it as far as I safely can. It sounds like he does have the stones at his flat. How are you doing over there?”

“All set with everything I can find out from here. I think it’s time to go out and get this guy. Do you want to let Jack know we’re leaving?”

Ianto ducks his head and clears his throat. “No, why don’t you tell him? You did most of the work, you should take credit.”

She narrows her eyes but doesn’t argue.

 

Once they’re in the SUV and on their way, she turns to him from the passenger seat. 

“You’re going to have to speak to him eventually, you know.”

“Who, Jack? You saw me talking to him earlier!”

“Yes, while I was in the office. You never go in there if he’s alone.”

He glances at her and then back at the road. “Do you blame me?”

“I suppose not. But still, you can’t avoid him forever.”

He doesn’t answer. They drive in silence for a while. Tosh finally breaks it. “Ianto, I don’t mean to pry but…”

“But you will anyway.”

She shakes her head. “You do a very good job keeping up this calm exterior, really, but we’ve known each other a long time, and I can tell that this is really bothering you. You know you’ll feel better if you talk about it.” He doesn’t respond, so she presses just a touch more. “We’ve always been able to talk, haven’t we?”

His shoulders slump in resignation. She’s right. It is killing him. “It’s just so very awkward, him having one idea of what our relationship should be and me having another. I don’t know how to behave around him. I wish he’d just move past it all, but it’s clear that he hasn’t yet. We’ll just have to wait it out.”

“If you don’t mind my asking, Ianto, what _is_ your idea of how things should be? I mean, none of us really knew exactly what happened there. There was all that time when it seemed like something was going on between you, privately, but it might have just been gossip. Then it was out in the open. Then one day it was clearly over, but neither of you ever said anything outright. I’ve always wondered.”

Ianto looks quickly to both sides and pulls the SUV over to the side of the road, throwing it into park. He turns to her. “That was all a mistake, Tosh. You know what I’d just been through. I wasn’t thinking clearly, and Jack can be very charming, and I was just looking for anyone who might…” He can’t finish the sentence.

“Replace the love you’d lost?” she supplies.

Ianto snorts. “Yes, well, I suppose, but that’s not really in Jack’s repertoire, is it?” He puts the car in gear and starts driving again.

“Are you sure about that? I mean, from what Gwen says…”

“Oh you and Gwen are discussing this on your little girls’ nights, are you?” Ianto cuts her off. “Coming up with a plan? I told her to stay out of it.”

“No, no, it’s not like that. I asked her to tell me everything about their timeline, all the different things that happened to them. It’s really quite fascinating. We all did some remarkable things before… anyway, from what she said, it sounds like both of you really cared for each other.”

“Yes, I’m sure that’s how she remembers it. I’m sure that’s how both of them remember it.”

“Of course,” she replies. “That makes sense.” She turns and looks out the window to her left, working her bottom lip in her teeth. 

Ianto tries to leave it at that, but it’s driving him crazy. “What? You want to say something more over there, don’t you?”

“No, not at all. I didn’t mean to interfere, I just asked so I could listen, for you. You know what’s best for yourself.”

Ianto sighs. “You’re thinking that if those two could be remembering things wrong, it’s just as possible that I have it wrong instead, is that it? You weren’t there, Toshiko.”

“Yes, I know, you’re absolutely right. I’m sorry.”

“There he is.” They’ve reached their destination and Ianto points to Rupert walking down the street. “Perfect, his place will be empty. We can take some time searching it.”

“Unless he’s taken the stones with him,” Tosh points out.

“Right. I’ll follow him, you take the flat.”

Tosh walks into the building and handily breaks into the right unit while Ianto takes up a casual but surprisingly brisk place behind Rupert. It doesn’t take long to get close enough to scan the young man. Tosh has just started her own scan of the flat when her comm clicks on.

“Tosh, I’m getting an alien signature off of him. He has at least some of the stones on him. You?”

“There’s nothing here, he must have them all. I’ll go get the SUV.” She runs out to the street, lets herself into the vehicle, and pulls up Ianto’s GPS signal on the tracker. She pulls out into traffic.

Meanwhile, Ianto has followed Rupert onto a less-crowded street, and has to keep a further distance. Suddenly the man ducks into a storefront and Ianto has to quicken his pace to catch up. He enters the small shop just as the door to the back is swinging shut. A large and muscular man is behind the counter.

Ianto has a couple of choices here and only a split second to decide. He can claim to be a police officer, take the authoritative route, but this fellow doesn’t look like the type to respond well to that. He can pretend to be in distress, and ask for help, but the tightening around the man’s eyes tells him that probably won’t work either. He decides to go for a little misdirection, which always works best when preceded by excessive politeness.

“Pardon me, sir, so sorry to bother you, but…” He’s cut off by a gun pointed in his face. So much for that plan.

“That way.” The man gestures with the barrel towards the door that just closed a moment earlier.

Ianto puts up his hands and does as he’s told. He walks into the back room to find Rupert there, along with two other intimidating men with guns. Rupert walks right up and punches Ianto in the gut.

“Who are you and why are you following me?” he demands.

Ianto’s taken a lot worse than that but he doubles over further than he needs to and chokes incoherently. When he comes up, there are tears in his eyes. “I wasn’t… I don’t…” Then he bends over again into a coughing fit.

The men laugh at this pathetic display and lower their guns. Ianto staggers over to the closest one and coughs even harder. As the man leans away in amused revulsion, Ianto dips his shoulder and, using the man’s momentum against him, drops him to the ground. He wrests the gun away and steps back, trying to hold all four of them in check.

He’s not quite fast enough, though, and one of them is pointing his own weapon back in a standoff.

“I don’t care about what kind of operation you’ve got going back here,” Ianto says. “I’m not going to hurt you, or report you. But Rupert here has taken something that doesn’t belong to him, and I will be needing it back.”

“I don’t think so,” Rupert replies. “If it’s worth this much to you, I’ll think I’ll be holding on to it.”

A series of low short beeps comes through the comm in Ianto’s ear. He nods to himself and starts stepping to his right. “Is it money you want? That can be arranged. We don’t have to be unreasonable here.” The others counter his movements until their backs are to the door. “Just tell me what kind of deal we need to make.”

The door bursts open behind them and Toshiko fires three shots in quick succession, dropping most of the men. Before she can get out the last one, the fourth one turns his gun on her but Ianto shoots it easily out of his hand. Tosh takes him out, too, and now all of them are lying on the floor, unconscious.

Ianto nudges one with his foot. “Stunned. Good.”

“Of course,” she replies. She’s already rifling through Rupert’s pockets. “What do you think? Retcon or just leave them?”

“Better be safe and use the Retcon. I’ll go get it.”

“Here, take these.” She hands him the stones. “I’ll watch them just in case.”

 

“Nice work, you two!” Jack says after hearing their report. “I’m impressed.”

Ianto shrugs. “Fairly routine, actually.”

“Yes, well, I’m learning that the routine around here stepped up a bit while I was living in a different timeline.” He pats Tosh’s shoulder. “Send me the list of those beeping codes you’ve been using to signal each other through the comms. Gwen and I’ll need to learn them.”

“Shouldn’t be too difficult for you,” Toshiko smiles. “You came up with them.”

Jack stares at her for a beat before nodding and walking away.

Ianto starts to leave in the other direction, but she stops him. “Listen, Ianto, I just wanted to say, I’m sorry if I upset you earlier. I didn’t mean to.”

“No, Tosh, that’s quite alright. I appreciate the concern. And you’ve given me some things to think about. I still have to sort it all out in my head.”

“Yes, it is a strange situation, isn’t it? I find it confusing in my own way. This new Jack and Gwen, they’re almost just like the ones we’ve known all along, but then you see all these differences, too. It really makes me think.”

“How so?”

“Well, like, how in their minds, in their memories, there's a version of reality where we don’t exist. Where you and I and Owen died a long time ago, and the world just went on without us. That’s real for them. And it’s only through an accident of the rift that it’s not still real now. It makes me feel this sense of responsibility, not to waste it.”

Ianto’s eyes flick over in the direction Jack just went before focussing back on her. “Do you think you’re wasting it now?”

“No, of course not, just that there might be more. You know, things I thought were impossible, but... maybe I just need try harder to find a way.”

“What kind of things?”

“Oh, I should really speak to Owen first. And anyway, enough about me, is everything alright with you? Do you need to talk more about it?”

“No, Tosh. Thank you.” A beeping sound starts up from her computer. “And besides, we need to get back to work.”


End file.
